Alexander Arturovich Rou

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Alexander Rou ( Russian Александр Артурович Роу * February 23 . Jul / 8. March  1906 greg. In Sergiyev Posad , Russian Empire ; † 28. December 1973 in Moscow ) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter .

Along with Alexander Ptuschko, he is considered the most important Soviet director of fairy tale films .

Life

Alexander Rou's father, Arthur Howard Rowe, was an Irish engineer who worked for the mill builder Henry Simon's company in Russia but returned home due to World War I in 1916, leaving his family behind. Perhaps because of Rowe's alcohol consumption, the separation had already taken place. He later emigrated to Canada and died in the late 1930s. Since Alexander's mother Julia, a Russian with Greek roots, was seriously ill, he provided for the maintenance early on by selling matches and combs and saved money for his own education.

After 7 years of school, Rou first attended a technical college at the insistence of his mother. In 1921 he worked for the agitproptheater Blue Blouse ( Синяя блуза ), then studied until 1930 at the " Boris Tchaikovsky " film school and then from 1931 to 1934 at the " Maria Ermolowa " theater school .

As assistant director to Jakow Protasanow , Rou worked on the films Marionettes ( Марионетки , 1934) and The Girl Without a Dowry ( Бесприданница , 1937). In О странностях любви he played his only film role in 1936, but was not mentioned in the credits . From 1937 Rou was employed by the Union children's film studio “ Soyuzdetfilm ” (renamed Gorky Film Studio in 1948 ) in Moscow, where he shot his first own film in 1938. In his career Rou staged 17 feature films, in addition to fairy tales and the first part of the war movie series Боевой киносборник №7, the adventure comedy Драгоценный подарок ( Dragozenny podarok ), the ballet film Хрустальный башмачок ( Khrustalny baschmatschok ) and three documentaries .

He received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR on March 23, 1961 , followed by the appointment of People's Artist of the RSFSR on March 13, 1968 . In 1993 a cinema in Moscow and in 1999 the asteroid (5412) Rou was named after him. The book Птушко, published in 2018, is the work of Rou and Alexander Ptushko. Dedicated to Роу: мастер-класс российского кинофэнтези (Ptushko . Rou: master-class rossiskowo kinofentesi ) by NJ Sputnitskaja.

Rou died at the age of 67 and was buried in the Babushkinskoye Cemetery , Section 16, Row 1.

Cinematic work

Rous fairy tale films are often based on traditional Russian fairy tale motifs and themes or characters from folklore, e.g. B. Baba-Yaga , Kashchei and Father Frost . His early films are still based closely on the originals, later these were combined more closely and supplemented with individual ideas. From Adventure in the Magic Forest onwards, the fairytale was also expressed through the use of the narrator portrayed by Anastassija Sujewa , who always introduced the respective film and drew a résumé at the end .

In part, Rou also processed literary motifs such as in Das Wunderpferdchen , Mayacht or The Night Before Christmas .

Typical of Rou's films, especially his later works, is the very imaginative decoration, both in terms of the set design as well as costumes and masks. The humor , which often reaches into the bizarre or grotesque , is also striking .

Rou mostly shot with a recurring cast of actors, e. B. Georgi Milljar (which in all fairy tale films Rous and in День чудесных впечатлений ( the tschudesnych wpetschatleni occurred) and Драгоценный подарок), Anatoli Kubazki , Alexander Chwylja , Wera Altaiskaja and Lew Potemkin .

His films have received several awards.

Filmography (selection)

Note: The list includes all of Rou's independent directorial work; his work as an assistant is only shown in part.

Effect in the GDR

In the GDR, his films shaped the image of the next generation of Soviet film and the essence of the Soviet Union. Better than any re-education concept, Rous Märchenwelt managed to undermine the foundations of anti-Slavism inherited from the time of German fascism.

literature

  • [1] NJ Sputnitskaya: “Птушко. Роу: мастер-класс российского кинофэнтези “, Directmedia, 2018, ISBN 9785447596187

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d biography of Alexander Rous on kino-teatr.ru (Russian), accessed on December 22, 2019.
  2. ↑ Interview with Alexander Rous' cousin David Rowe in the Irish Times , accessed on December 22, 2019.
  3. ^ Rous biography on peoples.ru (Russian), accessed on May 3, 2020.
  4. ↑ Photo of the tomb on m-necropol.narod.ru , accessed on December 22, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Rou, Alexander Arturovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Роу, Александр Артурович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet film director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Sergiev Posad , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1973
Place of death Moscow